Conveyors of the aforementioned type have been proposed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,476 and Danish Patent 159,544 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,312.
Each chain link in a conveyor of the aforementioned type generally has a length in a conveying direction of, for example, 3-10 cm, and a width from about 5-6 cm to about 16-20 cm, so that straight running conveyors can be constructed in almost any width by, for example, arranging several chain links at the side of one another and using common dowels or pivots. All of the chain links in a conveyor are normally identical, and are produced as a unit in suitable plastic material by, for example, injection molding of, for example, acetal, polyprophylene, polyethylene or suitable similar material.
Chain links of the aforementioned type may be configured with various surfaces such as, for example, with openings as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,476 or with a plane, uninterrupted surface as shown in Danish Patent 159,544 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,312. There are a number of different reasons for providing holes in the surface such as, for example, in order to increase friction, to reduce the weight or amount of material used, for drainage, etc.